There are two major end-of-life issues that generate legal, moral, and religious controversies; mercy killing and removal of life support.
Those accused of mercy killing are tried for murder or manslaughter.
The following are some recent cases.
Philip Saylor shot his friend, Steven Jenkins, a terminally ill AIDS patient at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center.
Caroline Youngquist, a volunteer for the Hemlock Society, often assists people with information on how to take their own lives.
However, she has not directly assisted in a suicide.
Rudolfo Linares removed the respirator from his comatose infant son.
An Alzheimer patient traveled from California to Michigan for an assisted suicide.
Dr. Kevorkian administered a lethal dose of chemicals to the woman.
Kevorkian is an outspoken advocate of doctor-assisted suicide.
In a small rural community in Wisconsin, Delbert Ward was accused of suffocating his brother who was suffering from tumors of the neck, kidney, and prostate.
No one is sure if Mr. Ward actually committed the crime.
More often, right to die issues involve decisions to remove life support.
The legality of making such decisions varies from state to state.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that states may bar the removal of life-sustaining treatment from comatose patients who have not made or cannot make their desires known.
In a poll of the American public, most people approved laws that allow life-support to be removed from a terminally ill patient.
Only a third of adults say that could take part in a mercy killing.
